


Oathkeeper

by Vanitas_Repliku_26



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: A commission I did on Tumblr, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 14:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17869385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanitas_Repliku_26/pseuds/Vanitas_Repliku_26
Summary: This is something I did for someone on Tumblr. It was a prompt of a basic alternate canon where Terra-Xehanort lures Ventus away from the group and Vanitas ends up saving Ventus. So redemption for Vanitas!





	Oathkeeper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [makesuretheyseemyface](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesuretheyseemyface/gifts).



The Keyblade Graveyard was dry and dusty, the wind that came in gusts kicking up the dirt and swirling it around in miniature tornadoes.

Ventus looked around at the multitudes of Keyblades that were buried headfirst in the ground, occasionally reaching out to run his fingers over the hilt of a few he recognized. Or thought he recognized. There were so many that were all exactly alike.

Sora was in the lead of their group, though it wasn’t on purpose. Everyone just followed behind him. In essence, Sora _was_ their leader. He had saved all of them, one way or another, and now he was leading them into battle.

Ventus was nervous. He was sure the others were too. They all had their own demons to fight and Ventus knew he would have to fight and kill Vanitas. Ventus didn’t want to fight Vanitas. He knew that Vanitas wouldn’t give him a chance though.

As the group made their way towards the main area where the majority of dull Keyblades were clustered together, Ventus felt the change in the air.

He had almost been expecting someone to be waiting for them with some ominous warning of what they were getting themselves into.

“Well, that’s a letdown,” Lea sighed, setting his hands on his hips. “Where’s all the doom and gloom welcome?”

“Maybe we scared them off?” Kairi suggested with a grin.

“Everyone should be scared of you, Little Spitfire,” Lea said, ruffling Kairi’s hair.

The girl laughed, swatting Lea’s hand away.

Riku smiled slightly, obviously happy that some light could be found in the depths of their current situation.

“While we have this break, we need to think of a plan,” Aqua said, looking at everyone.

Sora nodded quickly. “Yeah, this could be a trap!”

“He’s not wrong,” Riku muttered, eyeing everything around them as he waited for someone to jump them while they were distracted. He wouldn’t put it past the Organization to do something as underhanded as attacking while their guard was down.

Ventus zoned out as the group began to discuss a plan, staring at the Keyblades in the distance.

**_Ventus._ **

Ventus lifted his head a bit when he heard the voice, glancing around and spotting Terra standing in the distance, staring at him. With a gasp, Ventus looked back at the others.

They were too engrossed in their discussion to notice Terra.

Looking between Terra and the group, Ventus bit his lip before he trotted after the brunet when he turned to leave.

“Terra, wait!”

Terra wasn’t even running or walking quickly, but Ventus couldn’t seem to catch up to him.

“Terra!”

After a bit, they came into an open area almost completely bare of Keyblades and Ventus managed to grab Terra’s wrist to stop him.

“There you are!” he panted. “Have you been here the entire time? Let’s go back to the others. You can help us.”

Ventus pulled on Terra’s wrist, but the brunet didn’t budge. Ventus frowned, tilting his head to get a better look at Terra. “Terra?”

Terra glanced at Ventus before he smiled. “You’re…easily gullible, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

When the sound of a Keyblade being summoned was heard, Ventus quickly sprung back to avoid the swipe Terra made at his middle.

Ventus summoned his own Keyblade to defend against any future attacks.

“Terra, what are you doing?”

“Why should we face you all together when we can pick you off one by one?” Terra asked, holding his Keyblade by his side as he stared at Ventus with a smirk.

Terra’s brown hair slowly faded to silver as his eyes changed from blue to gold.

“You’re not…Terra.”

He looked like Terra, but it wasn’t Terra. Not the Terra that Ventus knew.

Terra-Xehanort gave a _hmph_ as he shifted his stance, raising his Keyblade in an attack position. “Raise your Keyblade or be struck down.”

“I don’t want to fight you, Terra.”

“Then you have chosen death.” Terra-Xehanort charged at Ventus with his Keyblade raised.

Ventus blocked the attack, not daring to counterattack. He didn’t want to hurt Terra. While he knew it wasn’t truly Terra, it was still Terra’s body and Ventus didn’t want to damage it.

“Terra, I know you’re in there. You can fight this.”

Terra-Xehanort laughed as he struck down repeatedly on Ventus’s Keyblade, attempting to weaken the blond’s defense by chipping away at it slowly. “Keep trying to reach him. He is too far gone in the darkness.”

“Even in the deepest darkness, light can still reach!”

“Hmph!” Terra-Xehanort raised his Keyblade up high then brought it down sharply, managing to break through Ventus’s defense.

With another swipe, Terra-Xehanort’s Keyblade slammed into Ventus’s to send it flying out of the blond’s hand.

Before Ventus could summon it back to his hand, Terra-Xehanort swiped his Keyblade horizontally, cutting into Ventus’s midsection shallowly. It wasn’t a killing blow, but it hurt like hell.

Taking advantage of Ventus’s distraction of the pain, Terra-Xehanort slammed a foot into he blond’s chest to send him flying back several feet.

Ventus landed on his side with a grunt, sliding a bit before coming to a stop. He grabbed his bleeding middle and turned on his back to see Terra-Xehanort slowly stalking closer to him.

Terra-Xehanort appeared satisfied with the position Ventus was in, like the cat that caught the canary.

Ventus summoned his Keyblade to his free hand to use it as a defensive shield as Terra-Xehanort halted before him.

Terra-Xehanort raised his Keyblade. “One light extinguished.”

Ventus gripped the handle of his Keyblade but didn’t lift it. “I kept my promise, Terra….”

Terra-Xehanort’s eyes widened a fraction but he raised his Keyblade higher then brought it down.

Ventus flinched and closed his eyes. When no pain came, Ventus slowly opened them to see someone standing between him and Terra-Xehanort, blocking the strike with the flat of their Keyblade, sparks coming from the two weapons.

“Vanitas?!” Ventus gasped when he recognized who it was.

Vanitas was…protecting him? But weren’t him and Terra on the same side?

“Don’t get all whiny on me,” Vanitas grunted as he pushed back on Terra-Xehanort’s Keyblade, both locked in a battle of strength. “You’re not supposed to die by anyone else’s hand other than mine. No one but me is allowed to hurt you!”

With a heavy shove, Vanitas pushed Terra-Xehanort back.

Terra-Xehanort growled as he slid back, glaring at Vanitas. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m being a dumbass and protecting my brother from the likes of you, idiot! What’s it look like I’m doing?”

“So, you side with the light?” Terra-Xehanort sniffed, straightening a bit as he pinned Vanitas with a disappointed scowl.

“I side with no one but myself.”

“Hm.” Terra-Xehanort narrowed his eyes.

“Van…” Ventus said, staring at his darker half in awe. He was still surprised that Vanitas was protecting him.

Vanitas turned his head to look at Ventus.

That was a mistake.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Terra-Xehanort launched forward and jerked his Keyblade forward, piercing Vanitas straight through the chest.

Ventus gave a startled gasp at the fatal strike. “ _Vanitas_!”

Vanitas turned his head to look at Terra-Xehanort and lashed out with his Keyblade.

Terra-Xehanort caught the Keyblade in his free hand before using his strength to lift Vanitas off the ground, swinging to the side to toss Vanitas off in the distance.

“Van!” Ventus screamed as his darker half landed a distance away amongst a pile of rusty Keyblades.

Terra-Xehanort grunted, smirking before looking back at Ventus. “Now, your turn.”

Ventus slid backward as Terra-Xehanort approached him.

“Ventus!”

Ventus looked behind him to see Sora and Aqua running towards him.

Terra-Xehanort growled, taking a step back at their arrival.

Aqua slowed down when she saw Terra-Xehanort. “…Terra?”

She saw his hair and eye color and narrowed her eyes. She went over to Ventus’s side to check his wound.

“No matter,” Terra-Xehanort growled, dropping his Keyblade by his side. “I will take all of you down, here and now.”

Sora summoned his Keyblade, prepared for a battle, but before he could even charge, the Guardian Heartless appeared behind Terra-Xehanort.

“Get them.”

Despite Terra-Xehanort’s order, the Heartless didn’t move and Terra-Xehanort turned to glare at it.

“What are you doing? I told you to get—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the Heartless grabbed Terra-Xehanort by the head and picked him up in one hand. With its other hand, the Heartless pried off the bandages crossed over its mouth. It exhaled.

“One day…. I will…set…this right….”

“Terra...?” Aqua asked cautiously at the Heartless’s words. That had to be Terra.

Sora grinned, pointing his Keyblade at Terra-Xehanort, the tip glowing. “Get ready, Terra!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora had left them sometime during their reunion to go help the others with their battles against the other Darknesses. Ventus was elated that Terra was back with them with no ill effects. Aqua was happy to have both of them back after so long. Maybe now everything could be normal.

Suddenly, Ventus gasped as he remembered the sacrifice that Vanitas had made. He stood up and ran off in the direction that Vanitas had been flung.

“Ven?” Aqua called as Ventus ran off. She got off and ran after the blond with Terra behind her. “Ven!”

“Ven, where are you going?” Terra asked, following after the two. What had gotten into him all of a sudden?

“Van!”

Surprisingly despite the severe injury and the landing among the ancient Keyblades, Vanitas was still alive, if a little worse for wear. The glass of his mask was cracked from the landing, starting to fall apart and revealing one of his gold eyes. Wisps of black smoke were coming from his body.

Vanitas grimaced as Ventus knelt next to him, taking in a sharp breath. “Ugh…took you long enough, you useless idiot…”

Ventus gave a short laugh as he shook his head. “You still have your snark even when you’re dying?”

“If I don’t have that, then who am I?”

“Vanitas…” Aqua said when she and Terra caught up to Ventus and saw Vanitas laying on the ground.

Vanitas sniffed. “Oh, it’s you two….”

He looked towards Terra. “Looks like you beat him….”

“Thanks to Sora.” Terra nodded.

“You’re lucky, then. Getting to go back to your friends.”

“You can too!” Ventus protested. “We can heal you. It’s not too late. We can do something to—”

“My injury is fatal. You know that, Venty-Wenty. You would just be wasting your energy on someone fated to return to the darkness.”

“That’s not true,” Aqua said. “It’s possible you could return as your own person. I’m sure all of the Thirteen Darknesses have that chance.”

“Always the optimist. Reminds me of a certain sunshine boy I know…” Vanitas turned his head to look at Terra. “You better take care of him. If you don’t, I’ll come back and personally haunt your ass.”

Terra smiled a bit and nodded. “Of course. I’ll defend him with my life.”

Ventus looked at Terra with a grin. Vanitas rolled his eyes.

“You’re all so sickeningly sweet…” He muttered as he faded away.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ventus sighed as he leaned against Terra.

With the events of the Keyblade War over and done with, they ventured to the Land of Departure to turn it into a training world for them and their friends.

Chirithy bounced beside Ventus as he and Terra made their way towards the building they called home with Aqua beside them.

Ventus stopped, pulling Terra back slightly since he was holding the brunet’s hand.

Terra looked at Ventus as Ventus glanced behind him.

“You coming?”

Vanitas glanced up at Ventus before he sniffed, rubbing his nose as he looked away stubbornly. Even though he had been recompleted as his own person, Vanitas was still a loner despite Ventus’s attempts to get him to become accustomed to living and playing nice with others.

“Yeah, I guess,” he grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets before following the others.

Ventus grinned, looking up at Terra.

Terra returned the smile, setting his forehead against Ventus’s forehead.

They had both kept their oaths to each other.


End file.
